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J.S. Bach: Complete Flute Sonatas, Volume II is a Stereo Pure DSD 256 recording.  Exclusively Available at NativeDSD in the recorded format and bit rate of Pure DSD 256.

The flute sonatas of J.S. Bach occupy a special place in the record market. The recordings concentrate almost exclusively on the hybrid, modern flute and harpsichord (continuo) instrumental combination, with the exception of course of recordings on historical flutes. There is a certain contradiction here, since flutists rarely get to try out this instrumental combination during their studies.

There are perhaps no two instruments in the history of music that have undergone as many technical changes in the 19th century as the flute and the piano. The tonal range, articulation and dynamic variety of these two instruments have changed over the entire register range to an extent that was unimaginable in Bach’s time. At the same time, however, the musical community later adopted both the modern flute and the modern piano to interpret Baroque music.

In the 19th century, the piano became the most dominant instrument in concert life and the “crowned king” of the stage. The flute, on the other hand, because of its imperfection, was degraded to one of the most notorious wind instruments of the same period. No major concert works were written after the Mozart concertos. For the flute, survival was in the hands of the fanatics of the symphony orchestra and the dilettante movements, which were spatially separated in Europe. The change was later brought about by Theobald Böhm’s patent of 1847, but it was still decades before Debussy opened a new chapter in music history with his symphonic poem Afternoon of a Faun, bringing the modern flute into focus within the symphony orchestra.

In contrast to the extremely fragile, sensitive sound of the lyrical baroque flute, the dramatic character of the modern flute offers a much more rational alternative. How, then, should a performer on a modern instrument approach Bach’s sonatas, which offer a completely different set of possibilities from those of period instruments. While respecting the composer’s intentions to the utmost, he also wants to exploit the potential of modern instruments. Nevertheless, Bach’s highly sophisticated musical language is no small test for modern instrumentalists.

This series is nothing less than an immense challenge, with the noblest of intentions, to nurture the legacy of the greatest musical genius in a dimension that is no longer accessible to him.

Szabolcs Szilágyi, Flute
Laszlo Borbely, Piano